Wisconsin employment, jobs numbers stayed strong in September, state reports

Wisconsin unemployment remains low and the number of jobs in the state is near a record high, according to the state labor department. (Spencer Platt | Getty Images)

Unemployment in Wisconsin remained at a record-low rate in September while the number of jobs was still close to a record high, the state labor department reported Thursday.

The projected number of Wisconsinites employed in September topped 3,059,700 — a state record, according to the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD). The department reported that September was the fifth month in a row that the state employment number reached a new record high.

The unemployment rate for the month remained at 2.9%, according to DWD. Employment numbers are projections drawn from a federal survey of households.

Based on that survey, DWD projected the number of unemployed people in September was about 90,100.

“It’s been tracking around historic lows for quite some time, and we don’t see that, short of a major recession, to increase any time soon,” said Dennis Winters, DWD’s chief economist, at a media briefing Thursday on the September jobs report. “And we don’t have any visions of a recession on the horizon anywhere at this point.”

From a separate federal survey of employers, the projected number of jobs in Wisconsin was off slightly in September compared to August, but still a robust 3.04 million — nearly 31,000 more jobs than in September 2023.

Unemployment insurance claims also remained close to their lowest level, while ticking up slightly, Winters said. The slight increase corresponds to typical seasonal trends in the last part of the year, he added.

Unemployment claims are reported from DWD, which manages Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system. They are distinct from the federal survey’s unemployment numbers.

The high state employment numbers, low unemployment numbers and low numbers of unemployment insurance claims all suggest that when workers do lose their jobs, they are able to find employment again quickly, so “for the most part you’re not going to be laid off for very long,” Winters said.

The statewide numbers released Thursday don’t include  local or regional data, which DWD publishes later in the month.

A September report produced by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found that while Wisconsin had a strong recovery from the brief 2020 recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the results have been uneven and in more than half of Wisconsin counties, employment remains behind 2019.

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